


Another Happy Ending

by RegulusLi



Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Economics, F/F, F/M, Investment Company, M/M, Military, Mismatch, Modern Thedas, NO Iron Bull/Dorian included, Online Dating, Special Force, Tons of Finance Knowledge, Veteran Iron Bull
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-18
Updated: 2016-01-18
Packaged: 2018-05-14 16:59:02
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5751028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RegulusLi/pseuds/RegulusLi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Iron Bull is a foreign exchange trader in a multi-division company called TMT (Tethras Montilyet Theirin Ltd), or Hanged Man as they all call it. He is a veteran, a former spy, and roommate of Dorian Pavus (who is a hedge fund trader), and has never thought he would know someone like Maxwell while having his pants down, quite literally.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Another Happy Ending

**Author's Note:**

> So hey, it's Rayna again, or if you prefer the one wrote way too many unfinished works using bad bad English, cool as well! I wrote the beginning of this during final weeks, and I was stuck in international finance, and here it is! Brand new modern Thedas AU! 
> 
> I made up everything, and nothing is based on real life events or countries, except the name of currencies. It all began with a joke I told my dear dear bro, that if Free Marches is a modern economic congregation like Euro Zone, it might name themselves Free Marches Union, and the initial of their currency would be FUD for Free Marches Union Dollar, get it? FU as in... ok I will shut up and let you read now. 
> 
> Hope you would like it, and kudos and comments are so lovely! <33333333
> 
>  
> 
> Find me on Tumblr at https://www.tumblr.com/blog/regulusli

Chapter 1.  
That was an extremely busy week, Iron Bull sat in front of his monitors, all six of them as matter of fact, and stared at the jumping numbers. The unexpected news of hugely dropped interest rate in Orlais has hurt both Fereldan and Free Marches Union. The market was panicking, and the volume of sales of Orlais Fr was not surprising at all. 

The foreign exchange rate of Orlais France and Free Marches Union Dollar had dropped from OLF/FUD 0.6789 and hit the historical low at 0.6932, the slowing economy in Orlais did stretch the already-thinned market confidence even more. The FX division of Hanged Man was acting bold as usual, due to The Iron Bull’s influence, no doubt.

Bull signed satisfactorily after the exercise of a bid contract, he worked in Orlais for quite a while before came to Kirkwall, and held nothing but confidence in their economy. Orlaisain maybe lazy and superficial as fuck, but they knew their ways of business indeed.

However, it was not like Bull had known that he would end up trading in foreign exchange division of a multinational company which unfortunately named Hanged Man by its owner Varric Tethras, not officially, of course. In fact, The Iron Bull served in the army during his youth, you know, as the majority of Qunari population. Maybe the old way had died out, but it didn’t change the military-centred policy in Par Vollen, something would never move, like stone, like earth, like the heart of the Qun. 

The year was 2008, clearly the traditional calendar was not considered efficient enough to be suitable in modern world. Come on, who would name a year dragon age anyway? Like the dragon (which extinct million years ago) would swoop down nowadays.

Swooping is bad, everybody knew that. 

They abandoned the old way (and old gods) 3000 something years ago by the order of the Queen of Fereldan, that was why someone still use the term “Queen Year 2008”, not officially, of course. 

After working as a solider, an unofficial spy and a mercenary, Iron Bull had never thought a man would have this kind of life change in his age. Admittedly, his experience had given him some perks and edges: some insights, some ability of reading people and detecting lies, and moreover, the sensitivity towards movement, both in battlefield and in market. 

If he could be honest, working in finance did feel a lot like fighting on the field, without all the guns and tanks, surely. He attacked other players in the market and won the game, it was more or less his whole tactic this whole time, no matter what, a kill was a kill, right? It sounded like some motto of Ben-Hassrath a little bit too much, Dorian would hate that.

“Down by another 260 base points, Bull!” Dorian shouted from another side of the office, he was Iron Bull’s roommate and, for some peculiar reason, best friend; naturally they never said the words like “you are my best friend”, ew. They lived together and drank beers every Sunday while watching games or movies, that’s how men are, no sexist intended. 

In fact, Dorian worked in the hedge fund division of Hanged Man, which named Tethras Montilyet Theirin Ltd after the three founder of this company: Varric Tethras, Josephine Montilyet and Alistair Theirin who built the finance giant back in their university days. According to the lovely story on their website, the Hanged Man was the university bar that they hanged out regularly where they came up with the general plan of the future TMT. 

Dorian was the top graduate from Tevinter University, and worked in some best trade houses ever since, yet he refused to follow his father’s footstep to politics. Josephine must have spent tons of energy and pull some important string to get him from the Tevinter Sovereign Fund. 

“TMT only wants the best, only has the best.” Josephine commented on the Financial Review article about the impressive hedge fund division of Hanged Man. Her picture was on the cover of that issue, Lady Ambassador, The King and The Storyteller were all celebrities in the finance world, some of people also called them a band of misfits, a weird combination of a Ferelden, a Marcher and an Ativan. 

Maybe Iron Bull was one of the best trader, especially in foreign exchange, but half of the employees once suspected that he was hired for culture diversity, you know, no company wanted to be accused racist against Qunari. As the matter of fact, TMT found several largest veteran charities in the whole Thedas, not only donated to support army families and PTSD, and also ran some amazing veteran employment programs themselves. After retiring from the army and left his unit after the Third Blight, a devastated world war caused million deaths all over Thedas, Iron Bull ran into Varric in one of those meeting. Next thing he knew was the training in Kirkwall, three months later he moved to this shoreline city and rented the apartment next to the beach with Dorian.

Alistair designed a multinational exchange fund that brought TMT billions of dollar, and that was why Dorian shared the same office hall with Iron Bull, even if just temporarily. Bull glared at the screen, whoever the counter party was, he or she had successfully pissed Iron Bull off. The way they acted is almost unethical, Bull strongly suspected the existence of inside information, or something like that. 

I need to talk to Dorian about this shit, he thought when his phone buzzed once next to the mouse. It should be midnight in frostback mountains where Krem and remainder of chargers stationed for months now. Who goanna call Iron Bull anyway? As a former Ben-Hassrath, a veteran and a Qunari, he didn’t really have many friends outside of Hanged Man, no matter how weird that sounded. 

An E-mail was blinking at his phone screen; Iron Bull couldn’t help but rolled his eye. Maybe he was his closest friend, but fuck that vint! To understand this annoying joke Dorian did months ago, it need to start from beginning. 

Like all the youngsters nowadays, Dorian used his social medias like a drug addict, maybe even worse. Working in finance meant you wouldn’t have as many “free-time” as you want, nothing is free in here. Consequently, Dorian was obsessed with online dating, or “risking getting killed by a stranger in an ally way”, as Bull called it. And after on particularly crazy drinking night with chargers who was on vacation three months ago, Bull woke up and realised that he was sleeping on Dorian’s bed, not like what you might thought, you filthy filthy person, he was sleeping in his roommate’s bed, alone, covered by puke and smelly alcohol, and so very naked.

Dorian went out to a date that night, naturally since Iron Bull was such a lucky guy, he heard the door opened. According to Krem and Dalish who slept in Bull’s bedroom, even a guy who got his arm cut off without aesthesia did not scream as loud as Dorian that day. 

Right after that, Iron Bull started to get emails from some online dating sites that clearly meant for Dorian, some very graphic description of things they wanted to do him as well. He realised that Dorian put Bull’s personal email address in his contact info. Well, joke on him, some of the dick pics were actually impressive, nothing compared to Bull himself.

Indubitably. 

It was only a joke, and since he could smell faded whiskey in Dorian’s room, Bull reckoned he need to wait for a little longer to ask him stop acting like an arsehole. Iron Bull was a guy who could laugh at everything most of time, but when the market acted like a bitch? He didn’t have the patient for that.

“Fuck you, Dorian!” He snarled at Dorian, over the ringing phone and fifteen shouting people in the office hall. Dorian didn’t even ask why, just gave him a finger. 

Not like Iron Bull didn’t enjoy some good photos of those pretty naked guys.

This better be good, he huffed and grabbed his phone. Nobody would be blamed nowadays for checking email and playing candy crash on toilet, right? Luckily, most of trader, Dorian included, was too busy to even got off their chair. Empty bathroom was definitely a luxury for all the so-called white collars, Iron Bull sighed quite happily, you could not ask for much this days, right? 

That was when Iron Bull heard from Maxwell for the first time, he hardly knew the man back then, and didn’t even think of knowing him by opening an email contained potential dick pic while sitting on toilet site. 

Well, at least it was not a picture of disappointing penis from some lonely desperate men. Iron Bull hums and open the E-mail titled “Sorry for bothering you, but…”

Maybe it was a polite penis, shy and not aggressive, though Bull have never saw a dick like that, he would never understand the “modern way of dating” anyway. Surprisingly, it was a well-written e-mail, not those pathetic porn-wannabe. 

“Hi, Dorian, 

It is Maxwell, I saw your E-mail address on the site, sorry for bothering you, but I don’t really have anyone to talk right now. Days were not easy, I am not allowed to talk about any detail, but we lost someone here, he was a dear friend to all of us. We all need some time, but…

Sorry, I just want to talk to somebody, I know we just chatted twice, but for some reason I feel that I can talk to you, well, hope we can meet in person next vacation, maybe I can buy you a cup of coffee?

Max”

From the instinct of a former soldier, Iron Bull knew at that moment, this Maxwell was serving in the army, probably at the same station with the Chargers, and it didn’t look good in anyway. 

Iron Bull knew Dorian was actively dating online, in fact, he said during morning coffee that he had a date that Friday. Before he could convince himself to ignore the email like others he received in three months, or talk to Dorian about it, Iron Bull found himself started to write a rely, while sitting there with his pants down, pretending to be Dorian, of course. He was not some creep who was so nosy and replied other people’s emails, at least he didn’t want Maxwell to know that.

“Dear Max,

Everything would be ok.”

He started typing.


End file.
